Swallowed in Darkness
by PsychoMike5469
Summary: Welcome to Gotham City, home of the Batman and his gallery of rogues, now a troubled young man begins to discover a mystical power. An ancient power gifted to others in a galaxy far, far away. Now the spirit of one who used the power has been drawn to Leon by his hate.
1. Troubled Beginnings

**A/N: I don't own anything. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**

Leon Shepard was a nobody. He had been regularly ignored by his peers at the local high school he'd went to, sure he had his quirks like everybody else, but it was mainly because of his violent streak. Leon had been moving around the country, since his father died while he was stationed overseas, with his mother trying to find work in the harsh economic climate. Most of the moving was the result of that damn temper of his, it was so severe that once he had attacked a kid for looking at him wrong. Leon was fairly muscled, with a forgettable face, and of average height. He didn't consider himself a mean person, more so he actually went out of his way to be kind, but when he started to see red; there was practically nothing anyone could do.

Now standing outside the small apartment building in one of the most crime ridden cities in the country, he guessed things couldn't get much worse. The October breeze brought a brisk chill to the air, which caused Leon to wrap the brown leather jacket around himself, he absentmindedly thumbed the scar on his collarbone.

Their beat up red Toyota Corolla was parked against the curb joining the dozens of other vehicles that sat there. Sighing, he turned away from the building and took a box of clothing out of the back seat and carried it up the steps. His steps echoed as he climbed the stairwell, reaching the fourth and final floor, he turned into the hallway that held only two doors. The one on the right was open, from his other two trips up, he placed the box in the middle of the room.

"A bit young to be living on your own, hmm?" A feminine voice called out, Leon almost jumped out of his skin, and it wasn't really scary it was just so unexpected.

"No, uh, my mom should be around here somewhere," Leon said rubbing the back of his head and took a peek out the window, only to find she wasn't there. Great. Less than a day in a new city and his mom had already left him to his own devices.

"At least I think she is," he murmured, the young Asian woman gave him a small smile.

"I'm Leon, by the way" he said.

"My name is Paula, so you are new here, yes?" Paula questioned, which Leon returned with a nod.

"Gotham is a dangerous place for a boy to be on his own," Paula paused, seemingly thinking something over, "Should you need anything, simply ask." And with that she wheeled herself away.

Leon didn't want to be rude by refusing the offer, but if he were attacked by a mugger he highly doubted a lady in a wheelchair could help him. He shrugged it off and went to go get more boxes.

-Line Break -

At about eight o'clock and without so much as a scent of his mother, Leon had managed to carry everything up and had just finished locking up the Corolla. Now alone in the small apartment he was cooking some stew, as he brought the spoon up to his mouth to taste it, some spilled and got on the front of his shirt. He cursed as the hot liquid made contact with his skin. He took the shirt off and tossed it onto the floor, leaving him in a white undershirt.

His father had taught him how to cook an arsenal of recipes at a young age, when he asked the man how he learnt how to cook so well he told him that his skills had developed over the years in numerous foxholes and bunkers all over the world.

Leon had just sat down in front of the television with a hearty bowl of beef stew, when the door to the apartment was thrown open and his mom came staggering in, laughing obnoxiously. A man was with her, dressed in a smart business suit, a crest present on his right breast pocket. From where he was sitting, the stench of alcohol was overpowering, and he wrinkled his nose at it.

"Barely a day in this city, and you're already with some guy," Leon said, disgust, and a tinge of anger evident in his voice.

"What are you saying, Leon?" His mom said, her words slurred.

"I'm saying that maybe you should be trying to get a job, instead of going out and partying all the time." The volume in his voice rising.

The guy in the jacket began to look uncomfortable, "If this is a bad time…" he said in a small voice.

"You can stay, its fine."

"No, it's not fine, Mom. Things need to change mom, make some time for me, for once!"

"Leon, we can talk later, I have some things to attend to." She said with a smile looking at the man. Leon's face was red at what she was implying, and he clenched his fists.

"Fine." He stated simply, roughly shouldering the man on the way out of the apartment. The door slammed behind him.

Leon was furious. Why couldn't she make some time for him? Didn't she care about him? He was fuming and paced like a caged lion. Why did she hate him!? He began to see red, and out of impulsive he punched the wall, sending his fist through the wall.

He drew it out of the wall as he began to calm, and the red in his vision began to fade, his fist began to throb with pain. Blood stained his white skin as it flowed from several cuts on his hand, some splinters were embedded into his skin as well. Leon swore, and used his undershirt to stop the bleeding. He looked up as he heard a door creak open, and the women in the wheelchair, Paula, looked out at him.

"Foolish boy, learn to control your anger." A small frown on her face.

"Yeah, well sometimes it's a little difficult," he quipped at her.

"Don't get snippy with me, boy," Paula said, "Come here, let me see your hand."

Leon obeyed and took the few steps in long, purposeful, strides to the handicapped woman. She opened the door and allowed Leon through, and closed it behind him.

"Run your hand under the sink, and then take a seat at the kitchen table, I will be right back." The water was cold against his skin and it stung a bit, after he finished he looked around the room, several photographs hung on the walls and rested on table tops. In a few of them, he saw Paula with two other girls, one blonde and the other a darker shade of brunette. The next photo he looked at was a much older version of the blonde girl, and Paula, he also noticed the absence of the dark haired girl.

Leon sat down in the chair, what was he to do? As far as he knew, he hadn't been enrolled in any school, and he had only briefly looked for a job. Which in itself was hard to find. He'd made a lot of poor decisions in his life so far, he didn't deny it. Leon just wanted things to get better, he longed for a complete loving family like so many others had, and greatly envied those who had.

At one of the first cities he had moved to, he'd made friends with a guy named Dominic Santiago, a Latino American, who practically adopted Leon into his family. He'd spent more time in the Santiago household than he had at his own. Dom was good guy, who had strong values and even stronger faith in God. Leon had never been to church before and so was greatly confused the first couple of times he'd gone, to the great amusement of the Santiago family. The neighborhood he'd moved into was a particularly rough one, with fights in the hallway between classes almost every other day.

One day he'd been walking down the street, Dom talking animatedly about a soccer game, when a car came screeching around the corner. It slowed in front of the building they were passing, and a torrent of bullets came streaming out of the car. Dom had been walking by the street and had been struck by several.

That day Leon had watched his best friend die in his arms. From then on, Leon made sure that he never got close to anybody ever again.

Paula returned with a small medical kit in her lap, sat it on the table and removed a pair of tweezers. She gingerly plucked the small shards of wood out of his hand. Setting the tweezers aside, she wheeled over to the cupboard under the sink and drew from it a small bottle of liquor.

"This might hurt a bit," she said as she uncapped the bottle of liquor and then gently poured some over his skin. It did hurt, but he had definitely had worse. Much worse. Butting the lid back on the bottle, she took out a roll of gauze and began to wrap his hand up.

Curious he asked, "Where did you learn to do this?"

"From experience." She replied simply as she finished with her task.

"Thank you." Leon said truthfully, "How can I repay you?" he asked.

"By making me dinner." She replied with a small smile.

-Line Break-

After the older woman had finished eating, he awkwardly spoke up, "I think it's about time that I get going." The light sound of moaning could be heard through the wall as he spoke, and he looked down embarrassed.

Paula gave him a sad smile, "The couch is open, and there are blankets in the corner." She wheeled herself away.

Later that night the door opened and Artemis let herself in. She stopped by the kitchen and made herself a small sandwich, and a glass of water to go with it. Passing through the small living room, she stopped in her tracks as she saw a figure laying on the couch. She immediately became defensive, wondering why someone was lying on the couch, the immediate issue being she still had her bow on her back and was still in her full green suit.

She crept closer to the figure at an attempt to identify him. Upon closer inspection she found that the figure was male, and ruggedly handsome, with short brown hair. Any other features were impossible to see in the little light of the room, she began to creep away and saw her mother out of her peripheral vision who held up a finger to her lips, telling her to be silent.

Artemis nodded and crept over to her, "Um, who's sleeping on the couch?" she questioned.

"A nice boy, who just moved in across the hall," Paula answered.

"Why is he sleeping on our couch?"

"He quarreled with is mother."

Artemis nodded and left to go to sleep, four hours of sleep was better than nothing, and after all in the morning she had to go to school at Gotham Academy. Funny thing was she had just seen the Dean leaving the apartment building when she crept in, why was he here?

-Leon's Dreams-

It was dark, shadows shifting and morphing at the edge of his vision. He stood alone. The ground beneath him seemed to extend on forever, into an even darker abyss. His legs felt like lead, and felt as if he was not in complete control. A deep voice spoke, "You were weak when I found you…" trailing off into darkness, other voice swirled around him.

"Monster!"

"Why, Leon, why?!"

"I hate you!"

"Weak!"

The last voice sounded awfully similar to his own, yet somehow twisted and contorted with hate. Nothing any of them said made any sense to him and only seemed to further confuse him. His head felt like it was swelling, threatening to burst, and spray his brain matter everywhere.

Then out of the darkness came a looming hooded figure, two deep red circles of light, illuminating a mask that covered the jaw and lower portion of the figures face. The undoubtedly human figures eyes, caused a shiver to run down his spin, something that he rarely, if ever felt. The whites of the eye were completely drowned in crimson, the pupils were deep orange and tinged around the very edge with black. They seemed to penetrate his very soul. Obsidian black veins crossed the almost painfully pale face of the man, and his hairless brow set into a permanent scowl.

"Who are you?!" Leon cried out, his voice echoing for eternity.

"You may call me, Darth Malgus."

When Leon awoke the next morning, all he remembered was that face and name.

**A/N: Things are just starting to develop, if all of you want to see more, let me know, and I hope you enjoyed it. You can Follow, Favorite, Review, if you want to.**


	2. Beginning of the End

Gotham Academy was a gothic school, with high windows, and too many gargoyles to count. He slung his book bag over his shoulder and tugged irritably at the tie around his neck, he never did really like dressing formal, he preferred clothes that had use, deep pockets, keeping him warm, and such. Leon never liked to dress for fashion, he rarely if ever actually followed what was considered 'cool' by everyone else. He just liked to be himself.

He shrugged and held up the unbearably white piece of paper that had his time table etched into it in solid black lines. Black lines that reminded him absently of the veins on that man's face.

What the hell kind of name was Darth Malgus anyways? Leon didn't know and didn't really want to care, but he couldn't help but be drawn to the creepy looking figure. As if Malgus was calling to him, as strange as that sounded.

He shook himself out of his stupor, as he saw a group of big teen males and several women and other guys walking into the school. Jocks. They were dressed in letterman jackets, and had a messy unkempt look to some of them. Leon, knew the type, arrogant selfish and they only cared about their reputation. Which Leon could care less about. He began into the school, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"How's it going Leon?" The blonde haired teen said, as she fell into his gait.

"I've been better," Leon said with a yawn. It had been several days since he had first spent the night at the Crock's place and it had definitely not been his last. Over that time he and Artemis had sort of become friends, both of them were pretty much social outcasts at school, which sort of drew them together.

"So, Artemis, you ready for that Pre-Calc exam today?" Leon questioned.

"I am, the question is are you?" She said, a small smirk on her face.

Leon gave a small grin, mathematics had never really been his strong point, and it certainly showed in his grades. He held one of the doors for Artemis as she passed through.

"Always the gentleman, huh, Leon," She stated.

"Oh, of course, you know me," He responded a tad bit sarcastic.

"Smarty pants," She muttered as the two began to part ways, "See you at lunch, Leon?" Artemis asked.

Leon gave a nod and a thumbs up to his only friend, passing through the herd of students on his way to his first class, passing by the jocks that took up the hallway like a blood clot in a vein. He tried saying, 'excuse me', and 'pardon me' in an attempt to get past, but to no avail. So he finally shouldered his way through, paving the way for the more timid students.

It didn't matter that he was called some unpleasant names, and being called rude of all things. What a bunch of hypocrites.

-Line_Break-

Every day for the past week, Artemis and Leon had met for lunch at one of the stainless steel lunch tables that looked like it belonged in a prison rather than in a school cafeteria. He sat down with a pile of what looked like slop on his plate, and poked at it with a fork.

"You know, I've been here for a week, and the food here seems to be devolving," Leon said casually.

Artemis gave a huff of laughter, "I've been here far longer, trust me it gets worse,"

"How!?" Leon said in exasperation, "The food already defies the law of gravity," holding the tray upside down, the food seemingly content to stick to the steel pan. He set it down on the table, as Artemis began to dive headfirst into a book, munching idly on an apple.

Across the lunchroom there was some shouting, and Leon turned half of his body to see what the commotion was. Causing Artemis to even look up from her book, which was a feat for her, seeing as how once she picked a book up it was hard for her to set it down.

She turned as she saw Leon gripping the table, so hard that his knuckles were white, and Artemis was shocked to see that the metal was starting to warp under his pressure. His expression was one of anger, rage. Could Leon be a Meta human? It was possible, but then she noticed that Leon's empty milk carton began to slowly float off of the trey, and she looked to see that several other nondescript items were beginning to float as well. Was he telepathic as well? That began to raise serious questions, and she decided that she would take to Batman as soon as she could.

Artemis knew that Leon hated bullies, more so than he seemed to hate himself sometimes.

-Line_Break-

Dick Grayson was really quite whelmed with the way that the same two jocks always seemed to favor targeting him, sometimes he wished that Bruce would allow him to go to his full potential and kick their butts, but on the other hand. His identity was more important, and it really would seem quite strange if he suddenly learned complex martial arts moves that would take some years to master.

He took the next punch with little pain, and had to feign that he had actually felt it. And to think that he defended some of these people.

"I hate to interrupt your 'fun', but I think you guys should beat it," Dick looked up to see a fairly well built, and had short brown hair covering his cranium. And to be honest, the guy looked pissed.

"Scram, new kid, you don't want to be a part of this," The leader said, his crony leered behind him.

"Oh, but on the contrary," He got right into the kids face, "I do."

-Line_Break-

The jock pushed him back, and moved in with a vicious right hook, Leon dodged and followed up with an uppercut to the jaw, sending the kid a few feet into the air. And onto his butt, Leon looked at the kid's crony. H

"You feeling lucky punk, well do ya?" Leon said, quoting one of his favorite movies. The kid shook his head fearfully at seeing the toughest person he knew get beat in a fist fight, and took off down the hall. Leon extended a hand to the kid who was sitting on the ground.

"Names Leon, what's yours?" he asked casually.

"Where'd you learn those moves dude? And its Dick, Dick Grayson," he said.

Leon shrugged it off casually, "My old man taught me a few things, here and there," How could the world be so cruel, how could society do this to so nice of people. And Leon knew that the rich jock would get off without so much a slap on his wrist.

-Line_Break-

Batman had just briefed the team on their next mission when he pulled Artemis off to the side, "What did you want to say?" he more or less stated.

"I think I found someone who may be a Meta-human," She said a little nervousness in her voice, Batman raised an eyebrow under his cowl.

"Explain," The Dark Knight stated.

"He saw some kid getting bullied, and when I looked over at him, he had warped the table with his grip. That's not it, I think he might have some telepathic ability as well, he made several things float without even know it. And the bad thing about it was, that he could only do it when he was angry,"

"You know this boy personally I take it?" He said.

Artemis nodded, "He moved in about a week ago across the hall form our apartment. Leon isn't a bad guy, it's just that he and his mom don't get along well at all, I mean they scream and fight every night,"

Under conditions like those, it was likely that if the boy discovered his abilities, he could very possibly turn to the wrong side of the law. And another villain was the last thing that Batman needed in Gotham.

"Keep a close eye on him, observe him for a few days and then I'll talk to him about his powers, maybe bring him in and teach him to control his powers. And under no circumstances, reveal that you are a hero to him until after I have spoken with him, understood?"

Artemis nodded, and took off to join the rest of the group aboard the Bio-Ship for the mission.

-Yet_Another_Line_Break-

Leon flew up from his bed, sweat covering his body and his bed sheets, panting he looked over at the clock beside his head. It read 3: 13, he wiped his hand over his face but stopped midway when he realized that he was not alone in the room, standing at the far corner of the small room, stood a tall black menacing figure.

He slowly reached for the baseball bat, near his bed stand, and gripped it in one hand. His eyes fixated on the dark figure, suddenly he began to panic as he realized that he had lost the figure in the shadows of the room.

"That weapon is useless against me," Leon spun to the sound of the voice, bringing the bat up to where the figures face should have been, but it passed right through him like a hot knife through butter. He was dumbfounded and it showed on his face.

Suddenly the figure reached out and grabbed him by the throat holding him in the air, while Leon struggled futilely to free himself from the figures iron grip. The figure raised its head to look at him and then he saw it.

"Malgus," Leon said in surprise.

"Yes, but you will learn to call me by a different name," Malgus said cryptically.

Darth Malgus released him from his grip and he fell back onto his bed, rubbing his sore neck, "What do you want?" Leon said, half curious as to why this figure was standing in the room, not truly frightened but more so wary. After all he felt so at ease with Malgus near him, strangely enough.

"I was drawn to you by your potential boy, you are strong in the Dark Side of the Force," His rage filled eyes penetrating Leon's very soul.

"What?" Leon said in a confused tone.

"The Force penetrates us, it surrounds us, but only the strongest can control it. Will the force to do our bidding, you have the power to do so boy, I can feel it,"

Leon was seriously interested. If he could use this Force, then he could save people, help people, "How can I learn about this, Force?" He questioned the phantom.

"Only through me, I can teach you _everything_, I can help you save the ones you care about, even this Artemis," Malgus said, crossing his arms across his massive chest.

"How do you know about her?"

"I've been inside your mind, I know your deepest desires, I know how much you hate society for what it's done to your life, I can teach you everything,"

Leon fought an inner battle between himself, could he really trust this shadowy figure that had been absorbing his dreams lately, and how did he know that this Malgus wasn't evil. But the other side of his conscious whispered back at him seductively, "_you can avenge your father. Save the ones you love, stop crime before it happens,"_

Leon knelt to the ground, and he could almost feel the pleasure radiating off of Malgus, "I pledge myself to your teachings, my master,"

"Good, henceforth you shall be known as," Malgus seemed to think for a moment, "Darth Defilus. Rise my apprentice, and we shall begin,"

**A/N: Alright to be honest, I wasn't too happy with this chapter, but since I wanted to speed things along I made it fairly choppy and I apologize for this. See you on the flip side.**


	3. Rampage

Days turned to weeks, and slowly but surely Leon. No. He was no longer Leon Shepard, he was Darth Defilus, apprentice to one of the most powerful and brutal Sith Lords; Darth Malgus. Defilus had spent time honing his skills under his master's watchful gaze, to suffice for the limited and almost pitiful technology that this world seemed to have he'd been using a broom stick in place of a light saber.

Then he remembered Wayne Industries, and the advanced technology that they possessed, another possibility for tech was STAR Labs, perhaps even LexCorp. But for now he would have to settle with Wayne Industries as the source for several components needed to construct his own saber.

At the moment he was in the process in of making his way over to a small jewelry shop. His master would have him create a synthetic crystal, but at the moment they lacked the furnaces necessary to construct such an object.

So a ruby infused with the Dark Side would have to make due, Defilus thought, as he used a force augmented jump to make his way to the roof of the jewelry shop, and to the door that stood between him and his lightsaber.

However, Defilus was so concentrated on his task that he failed to notice a certain cat burglar, whom had been scouting out the shop for days, and was nonetheless surprised when some kid in a black cloak jumped from the street to the roof with seemingly nothing but his own will. Selina thusly decided to get closer and investigate.

Defilus threw open the door with a flick of his wrist and quickly descended the stairs, entering the main showroom of the shop. He gazed over the multiple display cases, his master's Force ghost observing with interest, seeing how his apprentice would accomplish his task.

Then he saw a suitable sized ruby, and smashed his fist through the glass case, allowing the little pain he felt to strengthen his connection to the Dark Side, he clutched the mineral in his hand examining it, and ignoring the blaring alarms he slid it into his pocket.

"Not very subtle are you," Defilus turned to the sound of the feminine voice, and standing between him and his exit stood a women in skin tight body suit, which revealed an ample amount of cleavage. To any other male, it would have been attractive, but he was above such petty things now.

"Out of my way, woman," He said, throwing her to the side with a Force Throw, sending her crashing hard into the wall.

"You sure know how to treat a lady," Catwoman said with a little spite in her voice.

Defilus ignored the woman and climbed the stairs, and once he reached the roof, he was tackled from behind and he could feel metal blades dig into his back. As the woman grabbed ahold of his skin and attempted to flip over him, he used her own momentum to throw her across the roof and into an AC unit.

She quickly recovered however and delivered a flurry of kicks and scratches from her claws, Defilus analyzed her attack pattern and when she moved in with another slash at his face, he grabbed her by the wrist and held her in the air with on hand. He then kneed her in the stomach violently twice before tossing her aside.

Catwoman struggled to her feet, looking at the same hooded figure, she see nothing under that black hood other than a small amount of his pale chin. Unhealthily pale skin.

"That wasn't very nice," She called out, rushing forward and delivering an overhead kick, landing at where the figures neck was. Knocking him to the side and throwing the hood off. She was surprised to say the least, a teenager being able to do all of that.

His skin was ashy white and it looked like his hair was beginning to fall out, with thinning at the center and along the edges. The teen's brown eyes were tinged at the edges with orange, and it seemed like what little of his eyebrows remained were set into a permanent scowl. Selina could hear the police sirens wailing in the distance, and now would be an ideal time to disappear.

But the teen threw his cloak to the ground and was dressed in dark combat boots, and ratty jeans that served as his pants. He was shirtless and his muscled chest was marred by scars and some dark purple bruises. Letting out a feral scream of rage he pointed his fingers at Catwoman and unleashed a flurry of blue lightning, which tangled itself around her and she let out a scream of pain. His scowl combined with a sadistic grin that could've matched the Joker's, as he electrocuted her.

Just then, the GCPD came storming onto the roof, "What the hell?!" one of the officers said as he saw what was happening, "We're gonna need backup!" he screamed as he aimed at the figure.

_End this Defilus, we need not attract the Batman yet. _Hearing his master's words, he ceased the flow of lightning and Force Pushed the officers into each other, Defilus then jumped high into the air as he drew the cloak to himself and off into the night.

_Later _

When he arrived back at the apartment he quickly entered through the window to his room and went into the small dirty bathroom that was in his bathroom. He saw his own reflection in the mirror and part of him wanted him to give up, stop going down this path. No, the stronger Dark Side influenced version should've crushed what little of that part of him remained long ago. Sith were strong, and he would not allow himself to be some weak Jedi. He thought of the Sith's doppelgangers and couldn't help but feel angry, they had killed his master, they brought only war.

Glass fragmented and fell into the sink as he threw his fist into the mirror. He was strong. He was a Sith.

He brought the ruby out from his pants pocket and placed it onto the ledge of the sink, he rubbed his face and went to collapse onto his bed.

Malgus would admit that he felt something close to pride as he looked at his apprentice, he felt excellent knowing that he would unleash a powerful Sith lord upon this backwater planet. Perhaps he would allow his apprentice to keep his body, and not take control of the body that he so desperately needed, he felt weak being a ghost in the Force and he would not allow himself to be weak.

_The Next Day_

"Leon what is the meaning of this?" Defilus woke and was momentarily confused by being called that name, before regaining his composure and sitting up in his bed.

His mother stood in front of his bed holding up the ruby that he had procured last night, and he was sore form his encounter with the black clad woman. She saw the bruises and scars on his chest, "Leon, what happened to you!?" she asked in a concerned tone.

"It is nothing of your concern," Defilus said nonchalantly.

"None of your concern? I'm your mother it's my job to be concerned," She said with a worried look etched into her face.

"Oh really? Since when have you truly cared about me, hmm?" He said anger rising in his voice.

His mother opened her mouth to respond, but she found that her throat was constricted, she moved her hands to it and began to start to make choking noises.

"You've never cared!" He yelled, as he stood, one hand outstretched in her direction. Out of his peripheral vision he could see his master observing with obvious glee on his deformed face.

"Strike her down and you shall become more powerful than you can imagine," Darth Malgus said.

Defilus' face contorted and he tightened his grip and his mother began to frantically claw at her throat, he closed his fist and the snapping of her neck could be heard all around. He tossed her limp body to the side and into the wall with an audible thud, he could hear Artemis knock on the door to their apartment.

"Leon, what's going on?" She called out. Defilus ignored her and knelt down before his master, his head bowed.

"What is thy bidding my master?"

"You are now truly a Dark Lord of the Sith. Rise my apprentice and take this world as you see fit," Darth Malgus proclaimed.

Darth Defilus rose to his feet and could feel the power at his fingertips, he was drowning in it, and unleashed a burst of lightning, starting the walls ablaze. He collected the ruby from the dead hand of his former mother and drew his cloak around himself as the apartment began to be consumed by the hungry tongues of the flames.

Artemis pounded on the door again and waited a moment, she started to smell, smoke? She raised her fist to knock again, and was interrupted by a voice, "Artemis, is that smoke?" her mother questioned. Suddenly Artemis was thrown back by the splintering of wood, slamming into the wall hard.

Standing in the doorway was the once nice and friendly neighborhood boy that they had all known. He merely glanced at the startled Artemis, like someone who had just noticed a fly on their arm and brushed it off, before stepping over her and walking towards the stairs. And was stopped when Paula wheeled herself in front of him.

"Move woman," he said his brown eyes changing from brown to yellow.

"I'm not moving," Paula said albeit a bit startled.

"So be it," Defilus said dismissively, throwing the disabled woman out of her wheelchair with a flick of his wrist. He stood at the narrow gap between the stairways and glanced down as he stepped off and dropped the two floors to the bottom. Landing in a crouching position amidst a flurry of dust and cracked floorboards.

"What the hell you doing kid," Defilus heard an old Oriental man say as he stepped out his apartment, holding a katanna in his hands. It seemed the Force was on his side as he pulled the katanna towards him, the old man still holding onto it. But not for long as he was quickly impaled on the blade that he had once used during the Second World War.

As the old man slid off Defilus made slid it through a belt loop on his jeans, as he walked down the steps he slid the hood over his head as the fire started in his own apartment began to spread throughout the building.

-Line_Break-

Artemis watched as Leon dropped down the staircase and she hurried over to her mother as flames began to emerge from the door to the apartment, she coughed as she inhaled smoke. She sprinted into her apartment and grabbed her gear before running out, grabbing her mother by the arm and slinging her over her shoulders.

She descended the stairs as quickly as she could without her mother falling off of her shoulders. Meanwhile fitting the comlink into her ear, "Batman, he's gone bad, you better get over here quick his telepathic abilities have grown pretty strong," she said finally reaching the bottom and seeing the dead body of Mr. Woo, and the shattered floorboards.

Did Leon do this? She wondered, but was quickly unfocused as she saw Batman zoom past overhead, in obvious pursuit of her former friend. Artemis was immediately sad at the thought, it seemed everyone that she had ever known had betrayed her.

-Line_Break-

Defilus pushed the two police cars to the side of the road, throwing his recently acquired katanna into the chest of a police officer, drawing it back to his side as the body fell to the ground. He had carved a two block path of destruction through the city of Gotham, dozens of bodies lying in his wake, fueled by anger and rage. He was unstoppable.

Up ahead two SWAT vans were parked front to front, creating a barricade in the street, officers were braced up against several regular units, rifles at the ready. In the middle of them stood Commissioner Gordon, a megaphone in his hand, pressing it up against his lips he called out, "Stop or you will be fired upon."

Defilus continued undeterred by the words the man spoke, blade hanging at his side menacingly. The police's weakness to kill a child had been a most fatal hesitation on their part, and something Defilus would continue to take advantage of.

"Fire a warning shot," Gordon called to the nearest officer, who tightened the butt stock against his shoulder and squeezed off a burst of bullets at the teens feet. T

Defilus noted the bullets that hit the pavement near him and could sense the men clicking the safeties off of their rifles and he began to start into a slow jog. They took aim, and he turned into a Force augmented sprint, as they let loose the first bullets. He reached the last couple of hundred feet and jumped high into the air, smashing into the concrete behind the line of officers. Who looked confused for a moment before regaining composure, he decapitated one officer and then stabbed another with his blade. Using his body as a shield as the other officers started firing.

Getting up close he threw the long dead cop into another and electrocuted one with Force Lightning, diverting some onto his blade and delivering an upward slash onto another officer. He tore through them, like one of the Rancors that his master had once told him of, and finally the reached their leader. Commissioner Gordon, if he recalled correctly and raised his blade to strike at him, when he found that it was no longer in his grasp.

He turned to look at his hand, and instead saw a black gloved fist coming crashing into his face. Defilus was launched into a police cruiser, cracking one of the windows, before he sprang to his feet, to see Batman holding his blade in his hand.

Defilus looked out of the corner of his eye to see his master standing on top of one of the cruisers, "Kill him, Defilus,"

The Darksider nodded and sprang into Echani, the method of honing one's own body as a weapon, and launched at the Batman. Who, with some difficulty, blocked the Sith's attacks. Before dealing out some damage of his own. He gave a powerful kick to his opponent's side, and delivered a flurry of punches, to the chest, and a swift uppercut.

Using the Force he threw Batman away, and wiped a trail of blood from his mouth with the backside of his hand. And let out a primal yell of rage, and unleashed Force lightning from his fingertips, causing Batman to grunt in pain, before the vigilante threw the katanna at the teen. Defilus stopped the lightning and grabbed the katanna with an outstretched hand, and just in time to see a punch connect with his jaw.

Fading into unconscious he could see his master standing back and to the right of the Dark Knight, anger at the failure of his apprentice evident in his eyes. Defilus knew that he would pay in some way later on for his failure.

Batman stood over the form of the teenager as Gordon and more of his men came around the side of one of the vans, "Take him to Arkham, and transfer him to Belle Reeve as soon as possible." Gordon nodded and two of his officers went to go get stronger restraints, which were necessary for the telepath.

The abilities that he demonstrated were impressive, he had never seen a telepath generate lightning, and it was possible that he was an extremely powerful one. But the martial arts that he had employed left Batman with an enigma, never before had he seen something like that, with attacks that were similar to several forms that he knew.

He had failed to keep a watchful eye on the boy, and now a lot of good men were dead because of him.

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this, as I most certainly had a lot of fun writing it. Feel free to Review, Favorite, and Follow if you want to.**

**Thanks to FlamingDragon, X-Gloves Version Vongola Gear, and GuardianOfTheUniverse for reviewing! And to everyone else for Favoriting and Following!**


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